Spring 2008

1A.  Required texts

  • Richard Reynolds & John Stone, ON DOCTORING (3rd ed., 2001) (anthology) (Simon & Schuster, $35), ISBN 0-7432-0153-1
  • John Irving, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (reprint ed., 1994) (novel) (Ballantine, $7.99, paper), ISBN 0-34538-765-1
  • Brian Clark, Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1978) (play) (Dramatic Publ. Co., $5.95, paper), ISBN 0-87129-329-3
  • Margaret Edson, Wit (1999) (play) (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, $13, paper), ISBN 0-571-19877-5
  • Margaret Wise Brown, THE RUNAWAY BUNNY (Oct. 1997) (Harper Trophy, $5.99, paper), ISBN 0-06-443018-9

1B.  Recommended poetry texts

The best

  • Mary Oliver, A POETRY HANDBOOK (1995) (Harvest Books, $13, paper), ISBN 0-15-672400-6 (user-friendly introduction to the techniques of poetry) -- this has been included in the course book order.

The rest

Any good guide to poetry might be helpful. I like Oliver (above) because it’s short and easy to get into (and it's very good).  I also recommend:

  • Jack Myers, The Portable Poetry Workshop (2005, $26.95, paper), ISBN 0-155-06002-3 (wonderful introduction to writing and reading poetry - an entire MFA program in 300 pages)
  • David Caplan, Poetic Form: An Introduction (2007, $20), ISBN 0-321-19820-4 (thorough, accessible, written with wit and lots of examples)
  • Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within (2005, $25), ISBN 1-592040248-8 (British bestseller, written in the style of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"
  • Ted Kooser, The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice For Beginning Poets (2005, $19.95), ISBN 0803227698) (sage advice in a very accessible form from the current Poet Laureate of the U.S.)
  • Mark Strand & Eavan Boland, THE MAKING OF A POEM (2000) (more detail than Oliver, but very accessible)
  • Helen H. Vendler, POEMS, POETS, POETRY (2nd ed., 2002) (an excellent college-level intro/anthology)
  • X.J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia, AN INTRODUCTION TO POETRY (9th ed. 1998) (a very good college-level intro/anthology)
  • Mary Kinzie, A POET'S GUIDE TO POETRY (1999) (for the truly ambitious)
  • John Hollander, RHYME'S REASON (3rd ed., 2000)
  • Paul Fussell, POETIC METER & POETIC FORM (rev. ed., 1979)
  • Frances Mayes, THE DISCOVERY OF POETRY (2001)
    PERRINE'S SOUND AND SENSE (Arp, ed.) (9th ed., 1997)
  • Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux, THE POET'S COMPANION (1997)
  • Judson Jerome, THE POET'S HANDBOOK (1980)
  • Marc Polonsky, THE POETRY READER'S TOOLKIT (1998)
  • Last but not least, you could do worse than Nikki Moustaki's THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO WRITING POETRY (2001) or The Poetry Center's POETRY FOR DUMMIES (2001)

2.  Handouts

  • Rita Charon, Narrative and Medicine, N ENGL J MED, 2004;350:862-64
  • James Boyd White, Legal Knowledge, 115 HARV. L. REV. 1396-1402 (2002)
  • Benjamin DeMott, English and the Promise of Happiness, from TEACHING -- WHAT WE DO: ESSAYS BY THE AMHERST COLLEGE FACULTY 1-11 (Amherst College 1991)
  • Billy Collins, "Introduction to Poetry," from SAILING ALONE AROUND THE ROOM (Random House 2001)
  • John Stone (I), “The Truck,” from IN ALL THIS RAIN (LSU Press 1980)
  • Carl Sandburg (I), "Lawyer"
  • Ernest J. Gaines, A LESSON BEFORE DYING (excerpt) (1993)
  • Harper Lee (I), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (excerpt) (1960)
  • Sue Miller, THE GOOD MOTHER (excerpt) (1986)
  • Herman Melville, BILLY BUDD (excerpt) (1891)
  • Villanelle, from THE NEW PRINCETON ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POETRY AND POETICS  1358 (1993)
  • Raymond Carver, A Small Good Thing (1983)
  • Norval Morris, Ake Dah, from THE BROTHEL BOY AND OTHER PARABLES OF THE LAW (Oxford Univ. Press 1992)
  • Carl Sandburg (II), "The Lawyers Know Too Much"
  • Perri Klass, OTHER WOMEN'S CHILDREN (excerpt) (1990)
  • Jane Kenyon, "The Sick Wife," from COLLECTED POEMS (2005)
  • Donald Hall, "The Ship Pounding," from WITHOUT (1998)
  • Susan Glaspell, "A Jury of Her Peers" (1917)
  • Ward Just, About Boston, from TWENTY-ONE (Houghton Mifflin 1990)
  • Isaac Asimov, "Bicentnnial Man"
  • Norval Morris, The Veraswami Story, from THE BROTHEL BOY AND OTHER PARABLES OF THE LAW (Oxford Univ. Press 1992)
  • John Donne, Holy Sonnets VI, IX, X  
  • W.H. Auden,"The Hidden Law" from COLLECTED POEMS 262-64 (Edward Mendelson, ed., 1991
  • Richard Selzer, DOWN FROM TROY: A DOCTOR COMES OF AGE, ch. 13 (Morrow 1992) 
  • Isabel Allende, "The Judge's Wife"
  • Nadine Gordimer, "Crimes of Conscience"
  • Frank O'Connor, "Legal Aid" 
  • Harper Lee (II), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (excerpt) (1960)